11 Pachans(The Eleventh Day of the Blessed Month of Bashans)

The Departure of St. Paphnotius (St. Paphnuti), the
Bishop

On this day also St. Paphnuti, the Bishop, departed. He
became a monk in the wilderness of St. Macarius. He exerted himself in
asceticism and worship and lived his monastic life eating dry beans and fasted
for days. He learned how to read and write, and learned the doctrines of the
church. He was ordained a priest, and stayed in the wilderness for thirty-five
years. His virtues became known to everyone, and Pope Philotheos I, the
sixty-third Patriarch of Alexandria, called him, and ordained him bishop.

He did not change his clothing except on the day of
celebrating the Eucharist, then he put on his sackcloth that made of hair again.
His spiritual fighting and asceticism were so intense that his body languished
and he became ill. He asked God in his prayer: "O My Lord Jesus Christ, do not
take away from me Your blessings for the sake of my office of bishop." The angel
of the Lord appeared to him and said: "You know that when you were in the
wilderness, there was no one to take care of you in your sickness, there was no
one to minister to you, you could not find medications to relieve you, but God
supported, sustained you, and kept sickness away from you. However, you are now
in the world, and there are many who can take care of you, and offer you
medications in your sickness."

He was a bishop for thirty two years. When the day of
his departure drew near, he called the priests and the deacons, handed over to
them the sacred property of the church and all its possessions, and told them:
"Behold know that I am departing to the Lord Christ. I have walked among you,
and the Lord Jesus to Whom I am about to stand before, testifies that I have
never taken even one dinar from all the money which came to me from the bishop's
office." He blessed them, then departed in peace.